The Senate could vote this week to confirm former Texas Governor Rick Perry as U.S. secretary of energy, minority Democrats on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee said Friday.
“No confirmed dates yet on floor debate or votes on the Perry and [Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.)] nominations, although we suspect at least one may move sometime next week,” a Democratic staffer wrote in prepared statement for the press.
Zinke is President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the interior. Both he and Perry had to be approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee before they were eligible for floor votes. Perry’s nomination cleared the committee on Jan. 31 by a vote of 16-7. Four Democrats and all 12 Republicans on the panel voted “aye.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had yet to schedule a vote for Perry by Friday, a spokesperson said.
Perry’s confirmation process has been less contentious so far compared with other Cabinet nominees such as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who have been approved by the Senate and sworn in by the Trump administration.
Perry’s record as governor is somewhat pro-nuclear — his administration allowed Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists to open a low-level waste repository in the state — but he has so far played coy when it comes to high-level defense-waste and spent nuclear fuel disposal, declining to either endorse or oppose controversial projects such as Yucca Mountain in public.
